This has been something I've wondered the last few years. I used to be a college swimmer, fit and trim, but the 10 years since then I've drank my fair share of beer and ate plenty of cheeseburgers. Just curious what peoples' take is on how much the extra baggage really effects swim races.
I don't really fit the swimmer mold anymore. I'm 31, 6'2", and 270lbs with a huge beer gut. I got some strange looks since the meet i was in recently was a USAS meet and I outweighed my competition by 100lbs in many cases. My first race in about 5 years i went 23.4 in the 50y free. I didn't expect to be that fast at this weight but at the same time I almost wonder if the added intertia is helping me more on the start and turns. Followed it up with a low 52 in the 100y free but I had a horrible reaction on the start and incorrect pacing. I think if i raced again today that'd be deep in the 51 range. For reference, typical non-taper times for me in college were in the low-mid 22 range at just a tick over 200lbs but I was obviously a lot stronger, younger, and doing a TON more yards at the time, that's why it makes me wonder just how much the weight is actually holding me back.
How much time do you think I stand to drop if i were 50lbs lighter? Could it be a measurable difference or something just slight? I guess I ask that to see if it'd be worth my while to drop that much weight quickly by dieting in addition to the swimming i'm doing. I don't really like dieting, and i generally eat what I want, when i want. Not gorging myself at every meal doesn't really seem to fit into my lifestyle :blush: Anyone have a similar story? "I dropped XX lbs and went XX seconds faster because of it."
Maybe it's an immeasurable, but I thought I'd ask for opinion anyway. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a "to diet or not to diet" discussion though.
Actually I think it is indirect. I've long postulated that swimmers, typically, are slender and shaped the way they are as a direct result of the intense training they do, rather than a fit-the-mold requirement to go fast. The weight probably doesn't help speed, but I hesitate to say that it hurts it as much as many think, which is kindof why I started this little experiment.
My improvement is probably more related to what I've done in a year rather than simply being lighter. The move to the track start may have skewed those results in favor of speed though.
In heart of hearts explanation, as you ask, The likeliest is also the simplest: I've probably just gotten better since last year. I don't think it is random chance that I dropped time.
Well, you are swimming great. Keep up the fantastic progress. How far off from your lifetime bests are you?
More importantly than short term improvement, I hope you will stick with it for the duration!
I have been swimming masters since 1984, i.e., the year I turned 33. With the exception of closed pools, work travel, the occasional broken bone, etc., I haven't stopped since. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I am swimming times, at age 58, that I swam back when I was in my 30s. The change in suit laws has affected me much more than age!
Weight gain with each passing decade is almost inevitable for most people. But swimming has definitely kept my own fathood from proliferating too wildly.
Again, best of luck, and keep up the great job.
. Imagine if I ate something other than cheeseburgers, pizza, and beer :blush:As you get older you might want to replace the beer with wine, the cheeseburgers with a hamburger, and pizzia without pepperoni
As long as you exercise a lot, I don't think what you eat matters all that much. The stomach and intestines break it all down into simple sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids anyhow. I don't think it cares all that much if these come from free range chickens and wild dandelions or Snickers bars and Whoppers.
Former Member
Well, you are swimming great. Keep up the fantastic progress. How far off from your lifetime bests are you?
More importantly than short term improvement, I hope you will stick with it for the duration!
It took a LONG time to find old meters personal bests. I shedded all memory of LCM swims, and apparently my old results are older than the internet. In an old heat sheet from 1995 with hand written results, I finally found them.
LCM times
1995: 50 free 25.6, 100 free 57.1
2011: 50 free 25.9, 100 free 57.4
SCY times:
2000: 50 free 21.7, 100 free 47.1
2011: 50 free 22.3, 100 free 48.9
I'd love to tell you I am in it for the long haul, but I know life happens at times too. All I can say is that I finally found a training regimen that I can stick to and not get burned out in 3 months as I have before. Imagine if I ate something other than cheeseburgers, pizza, and beer :blush:
Former Member
As you get older you might want to replace the beer with wine, the cheeseburgers with a hamburger, and pizzia without pepperoni
Baby steps. I'd first have to step from double cheeseburgers to just cheeseburgers, from a whole pizza to a half, and from full strength beer to light :)
Former Member
Finally have some decent comparatively measured results a year later from two meets last year:
50 free LCM
=============
Mid June - 2010: 267lbs - 26.9 sec. no shave, no taper
Mid June - 2011: 253lbs - 26.6 sec. no shave, no taper
.02 sec/pound
Aug 1 2010 - 257lbs - 26.5 sec. shaved, tapered.
Jul 31 2011 - 248lbs - 25.9 sec. shaved, tapered.
.06 sec/pound
The two don't exactly show an exact quarrelation, but tapered/shaved 50 LCM swims a year apart may be the closest I can come to comparing weight loss to speed. The training program hasn't changed much, taper program was the same, and shave was the same, approved jammer both years, but I did move from a grab start last year to a track start this year. Unsure if that poisoned my results a measurable amount or not. It may have.
Vids of the taper swims for reference:
2010 50m - ‪swim_race1‬ - YouTube
2011 50m - ‪swim_race7‬ - YouTube (far right lane)
Just thought I'd keep the thread updated :)
Do you have any data for your 100 meter race from a year ago shaved and tapered and also times that are non-shaved and non-tapered?
Former Member
23.4 is really good for someone of your size.
How fast were you and what were your proportions at your peak?
I believe the ideal swimming weight for someone your height is in the range of 175 to 205.
You will probably drop half a second or more in your 50 for every 25 lbs you lose. (a full second in your 100)
You'll be way way way faster if you lug less lard.
Work on it, find out and let us know.
ande
You may drop half a second by losing your first 25lbs, but if you do you probably won't for your second and certainly not your 3rd. If you are capable of losing 100lbs, by doing nothing else different (i.e. just diet and don't train more) I don't think yu'll drop 2 full seconds over 50 yards, especially from 23 point.
However, some of the things that you do to help you lose weight may help, i.e. training harder, with weights etc.
It's a funny old game, though. I was about 40lbs over my current weight at one point and with training and diet managed to drop over a second over 50m ***. But this meant doing a lifetime best. I have friends who are overwights who are not even in the ballpark now. For me being out of shape never meant swimming much slower (over 50s) - it just hurt more!
Former Member
As long as you exercise a lot, I don't think what you eat matters all that much. The stomach and intestines break it all down into simple sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids anyhow. I don't think it cares all that much if these come from free range chickens and wild dandelions or Snickers bars and Whoppers.
It always comes back to calories in and calories out in the end. You can change the equation by far more by modifying what you eat (e.g. a 1,000 calorie burger) versus training.
Nothing beats working both sides of the equation, but purely from the point of view of fat loss, I'd suggest that you start with food.
Former Member
Nothing beats working both sides of the equation, but purely from the point of view of fat loss, I'd suggest that you start with food.
I decided cut out 1,000 calorie burgers a long time ago. I typically go with 3-4 400 calorie burgers instead :blush: Sometimes I even use lowfat cheese. :banana:
I've been up and down with my weight the last 3 years. what I have noticed at the end of this summer and start of the fall is my weight definitely effects my practice speed and my practice speed effects my racing times.
in 2009 I got down to 184lbs from 236lbs in 2007 and I was able to reduce my test set of 10x100 from st 1:35 to 10x1:25 and my 100 fr time from 1:02 to 1:00
in 2009 I got hurt, shoulder problems, and I slowly put most of the weight back on getting up to 225 again. my training times dropped to 1:30 and it was tough.
I am only back down to 213 now but already I am going 100's on 1:25. My race times from july 2011 are faster than 2010, but not quite to 2009 levels. I have 2 meets the last two weekends in sept, and then one the last weekend in oct and one in the middle of dec. if I can continue my current training and weight loss i will be back under 190lbs by dec and I beleive I will be swimming faster than I was in 2009.
Not sure I will or won't to get to 184 again, but once I get to 190 and I can maintaín my weight and intensity with training then I will allow myself to go those extra 5-6lbs. but I won't be changing anything in the way I live today. with 3 kids, family parties, work parties and just relaxing on sundays is enough to ruin what ever extra work i would be willing to do during the week.
